Daring to take on the challenges of adaptation

Turning a 700,000-word novel into a stage play and attracting younger audiences are obstacles the production overcomes with innovation, Chen Nan reports.

A theater company dared to take on the task of adapting a sprawling 700,000-word novel with over 170 characters and condensing it into a three-hour stage production — a huge feat. For the director, playwright, actors, and audiences, it is more than just a challenge; it's a high-stakes game of creativity in which each second counts and every movement is magnified.

When Beijing One World Culture Communications first invited Chinese director Zhao Miao to direct the play Two Capitals, Fifteen Days, adapted from Ma Boyong's popular novel of the same name, he was filled with doubt.

Could they truly capture the essence of a world so vast, yet bound by the limitations of time and space? The task was nothing less than to breathe life into a complex world within the confines of a theater while ensuring that audiences remained captivated from start to finish.